Counter-Cultural Love
by Sunset-Peril
Summary: He's an eighteen year old soldier, alone and on the front lines of a psychological world war. She's from a hidden household, a criminal's child. Together, they're a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, and true, passionate lovers outside of war's grim spotlight. Collection of Gadgia (Gadget x Nadia) Oneshots Both Forces and Post-Forces oneshots Individual rating may change
1. Soldier in the Ruins of Hope Part 1

The sun set below the burning buildings around Resistance HQ, and the surviving soldiers, wearing mental monitors to prevent them from going insane with PTSD after the Battle of the 80%, were headed to their sleeping quarters, twitching as night fell in fear of the dreadful certainty that Infinite would invade their shattered dreams. All except for one. Gadget the Wolf, armed agent for Rookiez Special Forces, wearing thick gloves, work boots, and a headset that had witnessed all the grotesque horrors of violent war, 18 years old and disheveled with both blood and tear-stained fur, was bent down over the bed of his half-dead love. She was precisely the definition of the living dead: the most pained expression frozen on her lovely face, bloodstained bandages wrapped over 5 layers thick, and yet, blood still seeped through them. He sighed mournfully, once, he cared only about the brutal war, now he was concerned only about her. Unlike the rest of the Resistance, he did not fear night because of nightmares, he feared night because he feared her death. The heart monitor and her soft, yet strained, breaths were his only console.

How he hoped she'd be okay! As the window behind him revealed only darkness, his thoughts turned to be as grim as the world hidden there.

Is she going to survive the night? Yes, I know the night that everyone was worried about was her first night here, but they still aren't sure if she will survive! Oh, her wounds are too deep, she's not going to make it! But she survived the first night, she can make it through tonight... The nurses will make certain of it.

And so will I...

As the night went on, a nurse silently walked into Nadia's room. Gadget, in protective mode, lowered onto all fours and crept towards Nadia, his actions kin to his primitive ancestors.

"Good evening, Agent Gadget." Gadget stood up and moved out of the way, only go back on all fours and being pacing at the end of her bed. The nurse frowned. He already wasn't mentally stable. Doctor Kimberly was worried that he was stressing too much about her.

"Agent Gadget. Panicking will not heal her any faster. Calm down." Gadget whimpered and curled up in a ball. Gadget howled, somewhat pitiful, and the nurse knew that he wasn't going to calm down. She went over Nadia, who was her intended patient. Gadget raced over opposite of Nadia, whimpering feverishly. The nurse took her glove off her hand and touched knowingly, then replaced the glove to examine Nadia, Gadget stuck his head closer.

"Gadget! Back!" The nurse waved her hand in a "shoo" motion towards the young adult wolf, muttering in a hushed whisper; as if Nadia was napping instead of trapped in a coma. Gadget whimpered again, flattened his ears, and squirmed. She quickly pressed a button on Gadget's monitor, he stumbled towards the window before falling down, passed out on the floor. The nurse sighed.

You had to have more than just medical experience to work for The Resistance after Operation Big Wave, especially in this room. The young she-wolf that lay before her was the only seriously wounded soldier who was still alive,

**and she was a miracle with just that. **

Young Miss Nadia, also referred to as 'Miss Operation Big Wave', had stitches running along the majority of her small body, she had also lost a portion of her left lung because of the state of her injuries. The nurse pulled the covers off her patient, then automatically looked at Gadget, who was conked out on the floor, before continuing. She cringed in expectation of the young wolf's injuries, fingers almost refusing to extend to remove even the slightest amount of bandages.

About 5 minutes later, she had finally gotten herself to remove the bandages from Nadia's chest, and the fur underneath was covered in enough blood as the chest of any of the deceased soldiers rotting just outside of Eggman's capital. Nadia's blood seemed like a magnet to the nurse's glove, just the slightest touch caused the nurse's glove to become soaked with her patient's blood. Her face twisted with both a natural disgust and a heartfelt worry.

The she-wolf had been through a **lot**.

Wrapping clean bandages around Nadia's chest, she replaced empty bags of both fluid and painkillers with full ones. Looking at the monitor, she noticed that Nadia's breath count was less than what was desired, and she slowly increased the power on the ventilator, then proceeding to replace all of the blood-soaked bandages on Nadia. Once she was done, she checked Nadia's monitor again.

Much better.

The breath count had increased to a normal count and the nurse decided that this concluded her visit to Nadia's room. As she exited, she looked at the unconscious wolf that was laying on the ground, his fur now glittering with fresh moonlight, a gift from the young night. She tapped a couple notes onto a digital screen by the door, both explaining her visit and sending a note to the rest of The Resistance's medical staff to have someone check on Gadget before midnight, just in case he started having problems after being knocked out.

She left, knowing that there was nothing more that her visit could do for either of them, leaving them to lay in the moon's clear glow.


	2. Soldier in the Ruins of Hope Part 2

Groans echoed through the room as Gadget regained consciousness. His amber eyes fluttered open, and he rolled onto his side, chest sore from laying flat on his stomach. He had no words for how much he disliked that button on his monitor.

No.

Words.

He understood it was for safety, but he did **not** like someone making him pass out. 'It left Nadia unprotected', was his first reason to hate the feature, but Gadget knew he also disliked it because it hurt his pride, his **dominance**. He was an Alpha Male, trying to establish his own pack, and every time he was zapped into unconsciousness, the less dominant he felt.

_**Nadia!**_ He realized. How long had it been? Gadget ran -no- very quickly stumbled over to her, peeking his muzzle over the bed, and filling his nose with her scent. Warmth radiated off of her, as if the constant beeping wasn't enough, she was ok... for now. Raising his eyes over the covers, he saw her bandaged face.

He longed to see those eyes again, those pools of sun-enchanted blue, gazing into his own, amber eyes. He cooed to her, a loving, calming wolf sound, and let out a soft bark. "Arroo?" He cooed softly, waiting for minutes to see if he would see her eyes, then backed away and whimpered.

He saw the moon through the corner of his eye, full and round, and wondered if Nadia was up there, with the fallen soldiers. He wondered if she was looking down, at him, spending time with the dead because she knew she would be too. A small cry burst out of Gadget's teeth, he crept closer to the moon. He felt the adult in him stir once again, calling him to try and call out to her.

Gadget howled, full and mournful. His heart pouring into his voice.

The sound resonated throughout the whole ICU and summoned a nurse that had been strolling through the halls.

"What's wrong?" The blue bird nurse, named Naomi, rushed in. She saw Gadget crying at the window and Nadia on the bed. She stepped closer to him, he turned around, snarling at her as if she was about to knock him out. "Calm, Agent." She touched his shoulder, smiling soothingly to him. "Look, she's alright, she's still here, there's nothing to worry about."

Gadget finally calmed down after about five minutes, and Naomi left. Gadget yawned, it was past midnight already, he made his way back to Nadia's bed, and laid his head down. He began whispering to her; he did this for quite a while longer, before his speech began to slur from his exhaustion, and fell asleep next to the girl he loved.


	3. Electromagnetic Mates

Nadia walked to a large building in Green Hill with Gadget, a metal bracelet clinking on her wrist. Every citizen of Mobius sixteen years or older was heading to the location from all over Mobius.

The government had given every child a metal bracelet for their tenth birthday, and once they turned sixteen, they were eligible to be summoned to this one location in Green Hill, where that bracelet would be activated, and they would be paired with a mate that could be from anywhere on Mobius. These bracelets, when activated, would instantly pull you to the Mobian that would be your mate. If you weren't pulled to your mate the day that your bracelet was activated, you would stay in another location until your mate became old enough to have their bracelet activated.

"I'm nervous, Gadg..." Nadia hadn't wagged her tail at all since she left her and Gadget's home in Mystic Jungle.

"Why?"

"So many things... I may not get a mate today, and might have to wait years to get one." She paused, as if she had gotten stuck with a upsetting thought. "What if I get a bad mate? Like, someone who doesn't love me or someone who is as bad as Infinite or my parents?"

"I'm sure your mate will be just fine, Nadia. I mean, if you would be in danger from getting paired with them, why would your bracelet pick them?" Gadget was just as nervous as Nadia, but was trying really hard not to show it. He might be paired with someone who didn't recognize that he was an Alpha wolf, and he wanted to make sure that his rank didn't change.

Once Nadia saw the building, she gulped and moved closer to Gadget.

"It's ok, it's ok..." Gadget rubbed her back as they walked in. They ran their metal bracelets through a sensor that required them to put their hand in between its two halves, signing them in and letting them proceed to the huge room that was full of teenage and young adult animals.

The mixing smells from hundreds of young animals was a bit overwhelming to Gadget, he placed one of his paws over his nose.

They waited for about twenty more minutes until a government official came and began to type at a computer and the green light at the top of the bracelets lit up.

Gadget nodded at Nadia and she gulped.

It was time.

The official pressed a button and young animals everywhere began flying across the room, all except for Gadget, Nadia, and about twenty five other scattered animals.

Gadget became tense as he realized that he wasn't moving.

Was his bracelet broken? Was his mate not here? What was wrong with him or her?

He grew even more distressed when he realized Nadia hadn't moved either.

It was her greatest fear for the day to pass without her getting paired.

He looked over to her, trying to comfort her, when he saw his bracelet touching hers. He quickly wondered if they had been paired with each other, but instantly rejected the thought. Why would they, of all the creatures on Mobius, get paired together? He'd never heard of close friends getting paired. Gadget decided to take a chance, and he yanked his arm back, causing Nadia's arm to instantly follow.

She yelped in surprise, then touched her shoulder. "Gadget! Why'd you do that?"

"I'm testing something out." Gadget picked up his arm, causing Nadia's to raise as well.

They both began to wonder if they had been paired, and they tried to pull their wrists apart. Nothing happened, but they noticed that the green lights on their bracelets were touching and glowing.

The realization hit them both at that moment.

"We got paired!" They wrapped their free arm around each other and nuzzled, their linked arms dangling between them.

More government officials came down, it had been seven minutes since the bracelets had been activated, enough time for all the pairs to meet.

The other twenty-five animals were led away, since they were the unlucky few that weren't going to get mates that day. There were some in every pairing.

One official came up to Gadget and Nadia, then examined their bracelets, to make sure that they weren't faking their pairing.

"Alright." The official began slowly, an obviously tired brown hawk. He ran Gadget and Nadia's bracelets through a small scanner, adding the others data underneath 'mate', and making their pairing official. The hawk official then unlocked their bracelets, which released their arms, their pairing had been recorded in a database, they were mates now. "Just to make sure you know the rules, all new pairs are to go in there for an orientation." He pointed towards a large set of doors.

Gadget nodded, and he led Nadia through the doors. They were both given many papers, some were gender-specific, and many different officials told all the new couples the rules of pairing. They weren't rules as in 'you must do this' or 'you can't do that', but were requirements that promised to keep their lives as personal as possible.

"Did you get all that?" Gadget asked his new wife.

"Yeah, 'Report all pregnancies instantly', 'Only give birth in an institution, no home births', and then there's-" Nadia listed many more rules, many of which had to do with children, and a few were about what services and places were available to couples who were in this age range and/or had this many kids. By the time that Nadia had finished listing all the rules and explaining what she thought each one meant, they had arrived back home.

Gadget curled up next to Nadia on the couch. "I can't believe that you're my mate..." He ran his fingers through her soft hair.

Nadia chuckled. "I guess we got all worked up for nothing."

"Yeah..." He kissed her forehead. "I guess we did."


	4. First Date

Gadget bounded into Nadia's ICU room, Kimberly smiled.

"Back so soon?" Kimberly knew that he rarely left Nadia's room and that he never was gone long.

She had been awake for three weeks now, and the war was finally over. Nadia was lying down in her bed with her eyes closed.

Gadget waited for her to wake up, knowing she still needed to regain strength. He quickly figured out that she was faking her nap, she bolted upright and quickly wrapped her arms around his neck, causing Gadget's tail to wag rapidly.

Nadia had an oxygen mask on, because of her missing lung piece, and her mask was connected to a small ventilator near her waist.

Gadget kissed her forehead.

"Hi, Gadg!" Her voice was muffled by the mask and ventilator, but she was ecstatic to see him.

Gadget stroked her head, running his fingers through her long hair, savoring every moment that they had.

Her survival was a miracle that Gadget was grateful for every single day.

"You can pick her up if you like, she went off her last I.V. this morning."

Gadget smiled at Kimberly's words and immediately pulled Nadia into his arms, talking to her in the rich language of the wolves. When his loving sentiment was finished, his words became understandable again. "You can walk now, right Nadia?"

"Yeah, I can walk just fine."

Gadget smiled and his eyes glanced towards Kimberly, who gave him a thumbs up. "Then would you like…. To go out with me?"

Nadia chuckled a bit. "I don't know what that means."

"Do you want to go on a date? And be my girlfriend?"

Nadia understood and beamed. "Yes!"

Gadget was overjoyed, he set her down on two feet and hugged her.

"Where would we go? I have to stay here."

"I was thinking we could walk around the base."

She nodded, it had been nearly five weeks since she had left that room.

Gadget took her hand, lacing his fingers with hers, and they walked out of the room.

* * *

"I don't remember HQ being this empty…" Nadia looked around the base, surprised at the lack of soldiers.

"The war's over, Nadie, pretty much everybody has gone home."

"Home?"

"Where we were before we joined the war, back to society."

"Where will I go?"

Gadget had thought of this already.

"I'm working with Knuckles on that." They continued to walk through the base, seeing the occasional person.

"Where are you going…. to go home?"

Gadget kissed her head. "Nowhere until you have a place to go." They didn't do much, mostly because Nadia was still technically in a doctor's care. Gadget walked her to an area with a window, and they looked at the flag of The Resistance; still waving in the breeze. "I'm going to show you that there's more to Mobius than war, Nadia…. I'm going to teach you how to be a real wolf."

She leaned her head onto her shoulder, he wrapped his arm around her side.

"You know how I said that I was working with Knuckles on where you would live?"

"Yes, why?"

Gadget smiled, and turned her towards him. "You're going to live with me."

Nadia smiled. "R-Really?"

"Yes, I got it approved with Commander Knuckles."

She buried her face into the vermilion fur on his chest, breathing in his scent, smiling brightly.

Gadget stroked her head, rubbing the back of her ear.

They nuzzled lovingly.

"When will I get to go?"

"When you get discharged from the ICU."

"How long will that be?" It was obvious that Nadia was ready to leave the rebel base.

"I don't know exactly, Nadie…. But it shouldn't be long…. I want you to be able to go home too…" Gadget moved his hand to rub her back. "I guess we should go back now?"

Nadia nodded, there really wasn't anything else that they could do.

Gadget kept a paw on her back as they walked. He opened the door for Nadia, who was now officially his girlfriend.

She walked in and smiled at him.

He walked her over to her bed, then wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her up onto her bed.

Nadia then pulled the covers over herself as Gadget walked over to his bed, flinging his shoes against the wall tiredly.

Gadget pressed the button on the table that called a nurse, then flopped down on his bed.

Not long afterwards, Kimberly walked into the room, helping Nadia get her ventilator on, waiting until she heard its hum. She peeked over at Gadget, who was sprawled out on his bed, completely exhausted from his sleepless nights from when Nadia was unconscious.

Nadia cuddled underneath her covers. "Good night, Gadg." She cooed, evoking a humorous mess of snores both loud and soft from Gadget, before a stupid smile spread across his sleeping face.

Kimberly looked at Nadia, they both giggled before Kimberly closed the blinds and turned off the lights, closing the door behind her and letting the lovers sleep peacefully.


	5. Through It All

**Quote that Inspired Writing:**

_"You don't have to love me" _

It had been a long day for the former soldiers of the Resistance.

Therapy for the specialized units of the army, namely Rookiez, the fighter jet pilots and several small brigades, had uncovered sensitive information about the origins of many soldiers that had showed up randomly throughout the war. But the one that caused the most uproar, however was Nadia's.

The truth about the permanently injured she-wolf had been announced accidentally by Mallory, the psychiatry student heading the session.

After the initial shock, a pilot named Velocity burst into a violent uproar, creating a mob of mentally struggling young animals, most children.

The sweet, yet often shy, wolf was actually from a line of wanted criminals, her ancestors ranging from being wanted for minor crimes to being on the Top Ten Most Wanted list. Once Velocity learned that Nadia was the daughter of the one and only Clawzie Wolf, who had been added to the Top Ten All-Time Most Wanted after she was found murdered, the furious bison yelled at Nadia with all her strength. In her fury, she provoked Gadget, who had been quite standoff-ish since his 'Nadie' had been critically wounded in Operation Big Wave.

Before Mallory could calm the two down, Gadget and Velocity were screaming and lunging at each other on four limbs.

While everyone had lost control of themselves and were fighting, Nadia hid underneath the couch that Mallory had been sitting on just ten minutes before and started sobbing.

Desperate to end the uproar before someone was injured, Mallory flapped her pearl white wings, picked up two muzzles with her feet, and muzzled both Gadget and Velocity, scolding everyone who had been involved. "I am ashamed of all of you! You all fought together to free Mobius, and now you lash your weapons at each other in a moment's time!"

The room instantly became silent enough to her Nadia sobbing, and Gadget slumped over to where he could see her fur poking out.

Lowering his head, he saw her fur flooded with tears, and he filled with shame at himself. The alpha reached under and pulled his girlfriend out from the couch; she refused to return his glace as he stood and walked out of the room, heading to an open space not far from the room where the therapy session was being held, where both him and Nadia could calm down and hopefully reset. He sat down on a chair, Nadia slumped down in a pile on the floor, quite a ways away from him.

After a long uncomfortable silence, Nadia's crackling voice was heard: "You don't have to love me." She sniffled and began to whimper, beginning to sob. "I'm no better than my mom..."

Gadget muttered with disgust at her words, which were a direct result of Velocity's hate. He stood up from the chair and looked directly at her, ignoring a painful burning in both his back and his left leg. "What are you talking about? You're so much better than your mom! You want to know why? You fought with the Resistance; Clawzie would have helped the Empire. She killed innocent people because she wanted to or because she didn't like them. You? You wouldn't hurt a fly unless you or someone you care about was in danger." He bent down next to his girlfriend, laying down on four paws and pulling her close to his chest, instinct keeping him from moving his burning leg more than he had to. "You are not your mom, Nadie, you're not any of your ancestors who hurt people. You're a hero; you're the girl I love..." A tender smile spread across Gadget's face as laid his muzzle on Nadia's head, tears began to roll down Nadia's face again. "Hey... what's wrong?"

She burrowed herself into his fur, grasping his wrist.

Gadget curled up tighter against her, lifting his head. "Hey... you're okay...no one's going to hurt you..." _At least not while I'm around. _Gadget declared mentally while Nadia pushed herself up a bit to kiss him.

However, she couldn't get around the wire muzzle still strapped onto his face, so she wrapped her fingers around the wire and laid back down.

Gadget blushed a little before pressing his face to her's, she moved her arms to wrap around his back and sighed.

A while later, Mallory came to check on them, and removed Gadget's muzzle, deciding he had calmed down enough.

As soon as he felt the wire come off, Gadget kissed Nadia's ear.

"Are you okay, Gadget? You're not hurt or anything, right?"

Nadia ran a hand down his back, pulling away when he winced.

Mallory sat down next to them, discovering a bite wound in his back, and a puncture wound in the back of his left leg, which was probably a result of getting shoved into something during his fight. "Ooh, Velocity got you, these look almost as bad as the huge slash wound in her shoulder..." Mallory pressed down around the bite, preparing to disinfect it, but Gadget snarled. "Gadget. I know it hurts, but you have to let me clean it before it gets worse."

The stubborn alpha raised his right leg and slammed it on the ground, trying to intimidate the dove so she'd leave his pack alone.

Mallory reached for the muzzle, to try and keep him contained, he pushed himself up onto four legs almost instantly, his injured leg shaking from his weight.

As he took a step towards Mallory, pain shot from his back through the wound in his left leg; he howled in agony and collapsed onto his side, losing his balance as he relieved the weight on his injury. By the time he had figured out what had happened, Mallory had tied his legs to a chair. "Mallory! Let me go! Let me go!" An annoyed whimper accompanied his statement.

"I'll let you go as soon as I'm done patching you up." And she did. Mallory untied Gadget as soon as he was bandaged, he jumped up before she could retie him, but winced once his injured leg felt weight again."

"Gadg-Gadg." Nadia cooed, standing up to take his hand. "Sit down. You're just going to make it worse."

Gadget promptly sat down in the chair that Mallory had tied him to, willing to listen to Nadia.

"You've had to take care of me pretty much since we met, but you need someone to take care of you too." She sat on the arm of the chair and nuzzled him. "Can I be the Alpha for a while, please?"

Gadget sighed, knowing she was right. "Alright, Nadia."

Mallory chuckled as she scented his ear.

"Thanks for loving me, Gadg-Gadg."

Gadget smiled. "No problem, thanks for loving me too..."


End file.
